An Lingrong's Rebirth: I will not offend others unless they offend me

Since Concubine Qi was absent today, An Lingrong had been sending people to keep an eye on the movements on the long street.

Xiao Linzi came to report that Concubine Qi rushed into Jingren Palace with red eyes, and she knew that the show was about to begin.

An Lingrong had just placed the osmanthus cake on the round table when the sound of singing came from outside the door.

She greeted everyone calmly and with a smile.

"Your Highness, Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty."

"Hello, Sister Qi Fei."

"Hmph! Concubine Shu, I am not worthy of being called your sister."

An Lingrong looked at the angry Concubine Qi in confusion and asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"May I ask why Sister Qifei said that? Did my sister do something wrong?"

"Lingrong is dull, I hope my sister can explain it clearly."

An Lingrong took a step closer, as if wanting to get closer to Concubine Qi, but she snapped her hand away.

"Don't touch me."

Concubine Qi was so strong that the emperor saw red marks on An Lingrong's hands and shouted to stop her.

"Princess Qi, if you have something to say, just say it. It's not right to just do it."

"You want to give Hongshi..."

Thinking of the unconscious Third Prince, the emperor swallowed the words that were about to come out of his mouth and entered the main room first.

He glanced at the familiar small plate on the round table, raised his hand, and casually moved the osmanthus cake to the small table.

The queen followed closely behind and explained in a gentle voice.

"Sister Shufei, sister Qifei just burst into Jingren Palace crying, shouting that someone told her that it was you who used the magic of yin and yang on the third prince, which led to..."

Her unfinished thoughts were filled with infinite compassion.

If An Lingrong had not witnessed the Queen's cruel methods in her previous life, she would probably have regarded the current Queen as a good person, just like Zhen Huan and Shen Meizhuang.

"The Emperor happens to be with me, so I'll come along and take a look."

She invited the emperor in the name of being concerned about the third prince.

An Lingrong looked at the Queen in confusion and asked doubtfully.

"May I ask, Your Majesty, what is the art of warding off evil?"

"You also know that I am the daughter of a humble Songyang County Magistrate and have not received much education..."

As she said this, she glanced at everyone embarrassedly and lowered her head in shame.

Queen, Jianqiu: Looks like we made a mistake!!!

He completely forgot that Concubine Shu came from a humble family, her family collection was not rich, and she had no access to these things.

The queen touched her belly in embarrassment. No wonder there is a saying among the people that a woman will become stupid for three years after she gets pregnant.

However, Concubine Qi didn't care whose daughter An Lingrong was or how much education she had. When she saw that the Queen didn't respond, she strode up to An Lingrong and explained angrily.

"Shufei, the art of warding off evil is what the people commonly call piercing a doll."

"You should understand this, right?"

An Lingrong nodded quickly and said with a smile.

"Sister Qi Fei, my mother taught me."

"But Sister Qifei is wrong about one thing. I'm not planning on giving Third Prince a piercing. He's so big, it would be very difficult to do that."

"Your Majesty, you see, Concubine Shu has admitted that making small figures is a family tradition, and she even despises our Hongshi. I beg Your Majesty to punish me severely."

Concubine Qi knelt on the ground and begged angrily.

The Empress naturally heard An Lingrong's subsequent words. Although she felt something was amiss, she saw the Emperor eating osmanthus cake and questioned him dignifiedly.

"Sister Concubine Shu just said that she didn't plan to stab the Third Prince, so could you tell me who you plan to stab?"

An Lingrong answered honestly.

"Your Majesty, I want to pierce ninety-nine men..."

"Your Majesty, please listen. Concubine Shu is so vicious that she actually wants to kill all your offspring."

The Queen cursed Concubine Qi in her heart as a fool. From Taizu to the current emperor, there were five emperors, and even including those princes who died young, there were not enough ninety-nine.

She suspected that An Lingrong was teasing her, but she had no evidence.

The emperor dreamed of having many children, but the reality was that he had no children and couldn't even find a legitimate heir.

If the emperor didn't know that Concubine Qi was always stupid, he might think she was mocking him.

He slowly swallowed the osmanthus cake, took a sip of the light osmanthus honey, and discussed with interest.

"Shu Fei, can you let me see the little figurine you pierced?"

An Lingrong thought for a while, and an inexplicable confusion flashed across her face.

Concubine Qi thought she was guilty and pointed at her face.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Concubine Shu is hiding something."

Under the pressure from Concubine Qi, An Lingrong had to order someone to carry out a large embroidery tent from the inner room.

She explained, pointing to the half-finished product whose outline was visible.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, and Sister Qi Fei, I heard that the Empress Dowager's birthday is approaching, so I embroidered a picture of a hundred sons offering birthday gifts."

"It mainly uses the needle-piercing method of Suzhou embroidery..."

"Your Majesty, please don't listen to Concubine Shu's excuses. She claimed to be embroidering a picture of a hundred sons offering birthday gifts for the Empress Dowager, but she only embroidered ninety-nine. It's clearly..."

The Queen really didn't expect that Concubine Qi was so shallow, so she quickly interrupted her.

"Concubine Qi, please stop being so unreasonable and harassing Concubine Shu's filial piety towards the Queen Mother."

"Concubine Qi, the painting of a hundred sons offering birthday presents indeed only contains ninety-nine boys."

After finishing his osmanthus cake, the emperor explained slowly.

"Heaven and earth are divided into yin and yang, with odd numbers representing yang and even numbers representing yin. People often use odd numbers for good luck. Nine is a yang number, and also the number of extremes. Therefore, when embroidering a picture of a hundred children, one child is omitted, to pray for good luck and avoid misfortune."

"The Queen is right. This is Concubine Shu's filial piety to the Queen Mother."

When Concubine Qi heard this, she was stunned on the spot. She felt like two little people appeared in her body.

One asked her to stop, and the other asked her to continue to request the emperor to search Yonghe Palace.

The two little guys were arguing with each other, each claiming to be right.

Concubine Qi looked at this and that, and was a little undecided.

I accidentally looked up and saw the queen wiggling one of her fingers beside her leg.

She glanced at the emperor again, thinking about what he had just said, that odd numbers are yang, and made up her mind instantly.

She crawled forward on her knees, hugged the emperor's legs and cried bitterly.

"Your Majesty, I am certain that Concubine Shu intends to curse the Third Prince. Please order a search of Yonghe Palace, especially Concubine Shu's residence."

"Your Majesty, our Hongshi is still lying sick in bed. Please, Your Majesty..."

There was deep despair in Concubine Qi's crying. An Lingrong couldn't bear it, so she bowed upwards.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I don't know what happened, but Sister Qifei is crying so sadly, and it's for the Third Prince. How about asking her to investigate?"

The emperor put down his teacup and confirmed again.

"Shu Fei, did you really ask Qi Fei to search Yonghe Palace?"

An Lingrong glanced at Concubine Qi and nodded with heartache.

"Your Majesty, to avoid tiring Sister Qi, I implore you to send someone to search."

The emperor thought that she was not afraid at all, so he ordered Su Peisheng to let the accompanying palace maids go into the house and search.

A quarter of an hour later, a palace maid who had entered the room to search came out holding a porcelain pillow.

"Your Majesty, there is an unknown object hidden in Concubine Shu's porcelain lotus-patterned pillow."

Concubine Qi quickly snatched the porcelain pillow and threw it heavily to the ground.

"Your Majesty, look..."

A scratched rattle fell out from the broken porcelain pillow and happened to fly to the emperor's feet.

The hidden object was beyond expectations, and Concubine Qi made sarcastic remarks without thinking.

"Poor people hide poor things, Concubine Shu, you..."